That beloved and nearly extinct genre, the TV movie

The Day After after the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust is one I remember from the 80s.

Cloris Leachman made VD really special.

[italic]The Initiation of Sarah,[/italic] one of a spate of "girl with supernatural powers" TV movies in the wake of the 1978 TV premiere of [italic]Carrie[/italic]

Bad Ronald!

Linda Blair's BORN INNOCENT made broomstick rape mainstream.

[italic]The Secret Life of Kathy McCormick,[/italic] starring Miss Barbara Eden as a supermarket cashier who fools a millionaire into thinking she's rich too

"Who is Julia?" starring Mare Winningham as the recipient of a brain transplant (!).

The Initiation of Sarah had both Morgan Fairchild and Morgan Brittany.

Joan Rivers's [italic]The Girl Most Likely To,[/italic] starring Stockard Channing as a bullied uggo who becomes beautiful through plastic surgery and kills off her former tormentors in humorous ways.

One of my favorite was "Midnight Offerings" with Melissa Sue Anderson, Mary Beth McDonough, Marianne Ross and Patrick Cassidy. It was about two teen witches. The movie "The Craft" clearly took inspiration from it.

If you haven't seen it, you should watch it. You'll love it.

[italic]She Lives!,[/italic] a tearjerker about young love and Hodgkin's disease

[italic]Curse of the Black Widow,[/italic] starring Patty Duke as a nice lady with an alternate personality: a vaguely Eastern European–accented slut who turns into a giant spider when she mates.

[italic]The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver,[/italic] starring DL's favorite cross-eyed enchantress, Miss Karen Black

Stephanie Zimbalist recovering from an accident in The Long Journey Back.

[italic]My Two Loves,[/italic] starring Mariette Hartley as a straight married woman who gets addicted to lady ham

[italic]Why Me?,[/italic] starring '70s staple Glynnis O'Connor as a woman who gets disfigured in a car accident, then undergoes extensive plastic surgery that includes rebuilding her uptown lips with her downtown lips.

1979's Friendships, Secrets and Lies. Who was the mother of the newborn infant whose skeletal remains are found during the demolition of an old sorority house? The now-adult women must come together to solve the mystery of which of them was responsible for this heinous deed? Was it Cathryn Damon of "Soap"; Paula Prentiss of The Stepford Wives; Shelley Fabares from "The Donna Reed Show"/"Coach"; Tina Louise of "Gilligan's Island"fame ; or Stella Stevens (best known for The Poseidon Adventure")? The all-star cast richly illuminates the taboos, the traumas, and ultimately the sisterhood of a group of former friends who form a circle of secrecy to protect one of their own. The denouement is both shattering and cathartic, with several critics of the time opining that, had Friendships, Secrets and Lies been released theatrically, every single member of the cast would have received an Academy Award.

Okay, so sort of exaggerating, but I saw it as a kid and I thought it was pretty cool!

r10 Wasn't one of the Walton kids in that?

In the spirit of the season, one of my all-time faves, Silent Night, Lonely Night (1969)--Shirley Jones! Lloyd Bridges! "Over the Christmas holidays in a small New England college town, a man and a woman share a brief interlude. He is there to visit his wife, who is a mental patient at the university, and she is there visiting her son, who is a student, after discovering her husband's infidelity." (Courtesy IMDb)

Auntie My-Helen?

You bitches are slipping!

The Legend of Lizzie Borden.....Elizabeth Montgomery

Trilogy of Terror....Karen Black

Dont be Afraid of the Dark....Kim Darby

^^^All the best were on the ABC Movie of the Week.

R17, that was based on a novel called [italic]The Walls Came Tumbling Down[/italic] by Babs Hodges Deal, which was supposedly based on a rumor/urban legend at the University of Alabama. (There was a rumor in the early 1960s that a baby's skeleton was unearthed during the demolition and rebuilding of the Delta Delta Delta house.)

The title sequence was designed by Harry Marks and animated by Douglas Trumbull using the slit-scan process that he had created for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The accompanying theme music was an orchestral version of "Nikki", a song composed by Burt Bacharach and named for his daughter. (Courtest Wikipedia)

Full "Nikki"

Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones

Desi Arnaz Jr.

Miss Christopher Norris

r26 thank you, I never knew there was a supposedly "true" backstory to that! That doesn't seem so far-fetched, considering the way things must have been back then. Here's a teaser showcasing these glorious ladies (Paula Prentiss seems disturbingly unperturbed by news of the discovery, but I genuinely can't remember who did it). Also, I always liked Loretta Swit and Paula Prentiss; even as a flaming gay tot, I thought they were delightful!

TV movies usually had pretty good scripts. The direction was typically pedestrian and dull, but a lot of the stories were sometimes better than the theatrical films out that week.

I saw the wonderful Cathryn Damon in an off-Broadway production of Marigolds, as the mother. About 1977.

That Certain Summer (c. 1976) was a pioneering tv movie about a married gay man (Holbrook) who leaves his wife (lovely Hope Lange) for twinkie Martin Sheen.

Short Walk to Daylight (1972) "Eight people are trapped in a New York City subway after an earthquake, and try to find their way out." (Courtesy IMDb) James Brolin!

I love A Family Divided with our Faye. She plays a nurturing mother (can you believe it!) who finds out her son gang raped a girl at a frat party who overdoses and dies. Whoopsie!

And Stephen Collins plays Faye's hunky husband who wants the son to lie about what happens. The movie ends before Faye finds out her co-star was an underage sex molester.

The scene below is emotional and well done - Faye tells her teenage daughter that she's leaving the home because of the father's plan to corrupt the son. It's one of the few times Faye's ever got to play a character who has a sweet relationship with her child.

I remember a few days before it aired Dunaway went on Jay Leno which was cool because she rarely does late night talk shows. She did an impression of Lenny Bruce for Leno.

Jimbo sure was purty.

TV movies were my jab in the 80's during my prepubescence.

I remember obsessing over a Dolly Parton as a battered wife movie.

Texas Wild Winds was the title, lol. Dolly was actually great in it.

R10, I recently started a thread to discuss "Midnight Offerings" right around Halloween. But it went nowhere, so I figured the talents of stars from "Little House" and "the Waltons" just aren't appreciated any more.

A Case of Rape with Elizabeth Montgomery in 1973. It was so good and surprisingly graphic for a TV movie. The full movie used to be on YouTube, but no more...

Montgomery was mesmerizing, R38.

She was r39. Didn’t she win an Emmy for this?

Her TV films were usually very good.

Satan's Triangle with Kim Novak and Alejandro Rey .

Broadcast at the height of '70s Bermuda Triangle mania.

Don't forget about me, bitches!

Eve Plumb scandalized and traumatized middle American Frau and Brady fankid alike in equal measure when she took that role.

This was major. I remember my mom couldn’t watch Cheers without thinking of Ted Danson as a child molester.

SNL weirdly nails those LifeTime movies in 'What's Wrong With Tanya?

Meredith Baxter is also a TV movie delight.

An old school gash ready to pounce on to trouble.

The greatest were the true-murder movies: "Fatal Vision" (Gary Cole as Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald); "Small Sacrifices" (Farah as Diane Downs); "Blind Faith" (Robert Rich as Rob Marshall); "The Deliberate Stranger" (Mark Harmon as Ted Bundy); and the DL Winner, "A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story" (MBB!).

But from the genre of fiction my absolute favorite and difficult to find MfTVM is:

"The Key to Rebecca," starring David Soul.

"Crowhaven Farm" (1970) starring Hope Lange scared the living daylights out of me when I was a kid. It's still pretty damn creepy.

Farrah Fawcett in The Burning Bed is Oscar worthy.

Robert Urich.

Sorry for not proof-reading!

R47, don't miss Ann-Margret in Seduced by Madness: the Diane Borchardt Story (1996).

Too Rich, The Secret Life of Doris Duke with Lauren Bacall and Richard Chamberlain, sad but good

Barbara Stanwyck in THE HOUSE THAT WOULDN’T DIE.

Oh god, r48 ; Crowhaven Farm - I wanted to watch it so much because it had Hope Lange. And I couldn't watch it because the teaser/trailer for it scared the fuck out of me . That fucking thing haunted me for years afterward in Summer reruns and mid-morning and late night repeats.

This house loves you, and it will never let you go.

1976 The Boy in the Plastic Bubble starring John Travolta

And of course, anything with Jaclyn Smith in the lead was certain to be a crapfest. Lovely woman, but the acting range of a stop sign.

That's James Olson, OP.

THE WINNAH!

What about the TV miniseries? Like Joan Collins' SINS and MONTE CARLO.

There was even a moment when Joan Collins was like the most important actress in the world and Jackie Collins the best-selling author in the world and it came close to Joan starring in an adaptation of Jackie's that was based on Joan and produced by Jackie (with Aaron Spelling, of course).

Such was life at the time.

There’s so many on this thread I’ll have to watch!! Here are a few of my favorites. I’m partial to poor little rich girl stories.

We’ll start with Little Gloria Happy At Last which is based on the life of Anderson Cooper’s mother, Gloria Vanderbilt. Starting Bette Davis,Angela Lansbury, Christopher Plummer, Maureen Stapleton and more!

Next up is Diana: Her True Story, based on the Andrew Morton books about Princess Diana. I watched this on repeat growing up. Who knew Bulimia could be so glamorous!

How could we forget “I’m dancing as fast as I can” with DL fave Jill Clayburgh as a drug addicted documentary producer.

And then my ABSOLUTR FAVORITE... Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story.

After years of hoping someone would post it on YouTube, someone finally did. It’s everything you want in miniseries. Starring Farrah Fawcett, it features award-winning beautiful costumes, real furs, gorgeous jewelry leant to the production some of which supposedly belonged to the real Barbara Hutton, and amazing set design. Sit back and enjoy!

I think that was actually a theatrical release, R63. Not that it should have been.

Friendly Fire, with Carol Burnett

Before Hallmark went bad, back in the 2000s, they did some great ones while on Network TV, the last hurrah for the miniseries genre seems to be biopics, as in NBC's Behind the Scenes series of TV movies on 70s ABC shows.

I also remember biopics on Billie Jean King and Ann Landers/Dear Abby.

"Live Again, Die Again" - 1974

After being cryogenically frozen for more than 30 years, DL Icon Donna Mills wakes to find her husband an old man and her children older than she is. She also wakes to find that her daughter is crazy and wants her dead.

The Bourne Identity, with Richard Chamberlain, king of the mini-series; not a mini-series this one. The TV movie about Rock Hudson from the 90s, and the one about Greg Louganis from that era, Mario Lopez did the role very well. Many good Mehrteiler in Germany (below mini-series, more than one movie). Good stuff from Hollywood, Germany et.al. that came out on Christmas and good stuff that is about Christmas.

One word....

PLESHETTE

Connie Sellecca in Downpayment On Murder from 1987.

Don't Go to Sleep

with

VALERIE HARPER!!!

RUTH GORDON!!!

Dennis Weaver!

Loved Raquel Welch in Right To Die. She plays a professor who gets Lou Gehrig's disease and she fights for her right to die. She's actually very good in it and said it's one of the films she's most proud of, she was nominated for a Golden Globe.

"Consenting Adult" where Marlo Thomas plays a mother who finds out that her teenage jock son is really a homosexual that gets blowjobs from men in parked cars.

I remember watching this as a kid in my bedroom and turning the TV so no one could see what I was watching if they walked in. I identified so much with the gay teen in the movie.

This was peak 80’s trash with the super hot Perry King as Cutter Amberville. This was when miniseries’ and nightttime soaps became almost self-parodies. And Valerie B was forced to inexplicably have a gray streak in her hair. And a young Julianne Moore! Big event in my household when I was a wee gay.

R74, Consenting Adult was like a Falcon porn video.

[italic]Consenting Adult[/italic] was based on a novel by Laura Z. Hobson, who also wrote [italic]Gentlemen's Agreement,[/italic] which spawned the movie with Gregory Peck.

Which one of you bitches is my mother?

In A Child's Name with Valerie Bertinelli and the very young and hot Christopher Meloni . I believe he still had his hair.

What was the title of the tv movie where Robert Urich moves his family into a beautiful housing community run by DL fave Susan Lucci on to discover it's actually a portal to Hell?

“Night Terror” starring Valerie Harper. The premise didn’t really make any sense but as a kid it terrorized me all the same.

Please release this on DVD already!

Sexy Rexy from Sooner or Later

Don't forget Ann-Margret's maudlin Who Will Love My Children, where she's a terminally ill farm wife saddled with a dozen or so kids and a husband so shiftless that he doesn't even go through the motions of offering to look after their children once his wife dies, so poor, frail, dying Ann-Margret has to schlep her IV pole all over Oklahoma or somewhere equally dire to find a half a dozen sets of new parents for her kiddies.

Just in case this isn't all bleak enough, I believe it takes place during the depression and they live in a two-room, tar paper shack and everyone is dressed in filthy rags. There is not a primary color to be found in the entire two-hour slog.

Oh, these are making me so nostalgic. It seemed there was a TV movie on at least one of the 3 networks every night of the week. They'd end at 11pm so a kid like me could get to bed in time.

VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED

At the other end of the spectrum, there's "Intimate Agony: The Story Of Herpes".

R27, the ABC Movie of the Week not only had a great Bacharach theme song, but it featured the quintessential 1970s typeface - Peignot.

Maybe I'll Come Home In The Spring starring Sally Field

Thank you! I was just going to post "Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring". I loved that one!

The Switch, based on the true story of Larry McAlfee, a quadriplegic who went to court for the right to kill himself with a self- made switch. Starring the very hot Gary Cole. Sadly, I can't find the full movie.

This movie was a weepy precursor to [italic]Ghost.[/italic]

1971 - The Love War.

It was a variation of the Outer Limits episode "Fun and Games" with Nick Adams and Nancy Malone pitted against two aliens in an arena with the fate of the Earth to be determined.

The Love War featured Lloyd Bridges and Daniel Travanti pitted against antagonists with the fate of the earth in the balance.

Angie Dickenson played a third party who gets involved with Bridges and Travanti.

Death Of A Cheerleader, starring Tori Spelling.

Shattered Innocence, starring Jonna Lee.

Both of them based on true stories but I'm too lazy to post a video.

1970 - Something Evil.

One of Steven Spielberg's very first movies stars offbeat Sandy Dennis in an offbeat supernatural thriller.

Family Affair fanatics will want to see this for Jodie doing the creepy possessed child bit.

"The Screaming Women" with Oliva DeHaviland. This scared the shit out of me as a kid. Just the idea of being buried alive was to much for me and gave me nightmares for weeks after.

One of the last great, golden-age movies-of-the-week, the very creepy "Dark Night of the Scarecrow".

"A Taste of Evil" (1971)- Two Barbaras for the price of one.

"Night Slaves" (1970)- Lee Grant fights zombies from Outer Space!

"Murder in Texas"

Sam Elliot is YUMMMMMMMMMMMY!

That's James Olson, not Alan Oppenheimer, with Cloris Leachman, OP.

Never seen it but love the title tailor made for DL: "Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?"

BWAH!

One of the few movies, possibly "only", US movie with an all Asian & Asian-American cast, the murder mystery, Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders.

[italic]Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice?:[/italic] Scenery-chewing "psycho biddy" fun with Mesdames Geraldine Page and Ruth Gordon. It was a theatrical release, but it was also a TV-movie classic, and it was co-produced by ABC.

another mystery I liked, with the stellar cast of Richard Boone, Barbara Bain, Victor Buone, and Michale Dunn, set in Los Angeles in the 1940's. Goodnight, My Love.

Chasing The Dragon, starring Markie Post as a single mom turned heroin addict.

[italic]Home for the Holidays[italic] (1972): family whodunit starring Eleanor Parker, Jessica Walter, Jill Haworth, Sally Field, Julie Harris, and Walter Brennan

[/italic]

Patty Duke also made superior TV films...

Lindsey plays a German!

[italic]Satan's School for Girls[/italic]

[italic]The Devil's Daughter,[/italic] with DL hot topic du jour Shelley Winters

"Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn"

Starring DL Icon Eve "Sure, Jan" Plumb

A country-boy (Leigh McCloskey) tries to find legitimate work in order to marry a teenager (Eve Plumb) he had hoped to regenerate, but gets involved with a football pro . . .

When She Was Bad - Kris Monroe beats her kid unbeknownst to Vegas’ Dan Tanna!

[italic]Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night,[/italic] or [italic]That Little Bitch Had It Coming![/italic]

Now On DVD

S.O.S. Titanic. Released theatrically in Europe, but presented as a TV film in the US & Canada. David Janssen as JJ Astor, Clovis Leachman as Molly Brown and David Warner as Lawrence Beesley. He would later play in the 1997 Leo and Kate version as the evil valet. The special effects were really weak, but the screenplay was quite well written.

[italic]A Question of Guilt,[/italic] based on the case of OG Tot Mom Alice Crimmins

ANTS 🐜 starring DL icon Lynda Day George and Repug cunt Suzanne Somers.

I loved these types of TV movies as a kid. Scary but not too scary.

Hoooooly shit, R23. Thank you for that. I don’t remember ever seeing that one, and now I know what I’ll be watching tonight. This entire thread is going to keep me busy for months, I suspect.

I actually prefer 70s (and early 80s) TV movies over ALL theatrical movies released in the past decade. I’m serious. I try to find a new one to watch virtually every night. Amazon Prime has actually been offering a lot of new ones lately. When that fails, I rely on YouTube, but never would have found all these without the help of DL. THANK YOU EVERYONE!

It’s just a shame so many of the YouTube uploads look awful. I guess no one was recording in SP mode on VHS back then?

My pick: A Howling In The Woods, with Barbara Eden as a rich girl who goes home to her father’s house to find everyone in the town acting very guarded and strange...

Gloria Swanson in “Killer Bees”.

There should be a TV channel devoted to showing TV movies from the 70s and 80s.

[italic]The Day the Women Got Even:[/italic] Comedy about a group of suburban housewives who vow revenge on a sleazy showbiz agent who promised to make them stars.

‘And I Alone Survived’ starring Blair Brown as the bitch who survived.

[italic]Hit Lady:[/italic] Sixties sex kitten Yvette Mimieux stars as an extremely sensual murderess-for-hire.

R120- I liked that movie because it was fun to see Jeannie and Tony Nelson playing a couple again in different roles.

There was one with Donna Mills where she plays a housewife turned sex addict. I think it's called Intimate Encounters.

Dying Room Only!

[italic]Hustling:[/italic] Critically acclaimed TV movie starring Lee Remick as an investigative reporter who goes undercover into the wonderful world of hooking.

I absolutely loved this one. It also started a young, hot Don Johnson playing the hubby of...Julie Kavner!

[italic]Victims:[/italic] Kate Nelligan leads a group of vigilantes against their rapist (Howard Hesseman) after he gets off scot-free.

[italic]A Gun in the House:[/italic] Sally Struthers stands her ground ... AND PAYS THE PRICE!

[italic]Battered:[/italic] B.J. Hunnicutt slaps Ma Ingalls around for burnin' the cornbread.

A soap creator (Suzanne Pleshette) deals with her cast being murdered one by one. Features some familiar faces from 80s soaps.

[italic]Cocaine: One Man's Seduction[/italic] ... complete with 1983 commercials!

[italic]The Death of Richie:[/italic] Eileen Brennan and Ben Gazzara star as parents who are powerless to stop their son (Robby Benson) from sliding into drug addiction.

[italic]The Rape of Richard Beck,[/italic] a.k.a. [italic]Deadly Justice:[/italic] An asshole police detective experiences a teachable moment through sexual assault.

[italic]Surviving,[/italic] about two families torn apart by teen suicide

Jesus people! This was one of the highest rated TV movies ever and scared the shit out of me. And now available on Bluray!

1984 - Something About Amelia.

A little something for the pedophiles, starring Ted Danson and Glenn Close.

[italic]The Best Little Girl in the World,[/italic] with Miss Joni Mitchell performing the theme song

Duel - Spielberg's first TV movie and a classic!

Bring back the Hallmark Hall of Fame movies.

R74 MMMM. John Terlesky. I so wanted him deep inside me!

[italic]Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring,[/italic] with Sally Field as an annoying hippie chick doing her own thing in her own time.

[italic]The Feminist and the Fuzz[/italic] (1971): A glamorous women's libber (Barbara Eden) agrees to share an apartment with a charmless cop (David Hartman) after a battle over who gets the lease.

Co-starring Jo Anne Worley! Herb Edelman! Julie Newmar!

The movie Consenting Adult was based on the novel by Laura Z. Hobson who wrote Gentleman's Agreement. My mother threw the book to the floor complaining that Hobson was too liberal.

Hobson based the book on her own son's coming out.

[italic]Money on the Side,[/italic] about housewives who take up hooking to make extra money

Very long but very, very good for a TV movie. The first incidence of incest on TV? Likely.

I would love to see CAROLINE? with dykey Stephanie Zimbalist again.

All the Susan Lucci movies are camp classics, but especially, EBBIE!

I really wish that the TV-Movie could make a comeback. The broad range of subject matters (sometimes veering into tabloid territory, albeit) and seeing your favorite series stars in different roles made them events. Now all we get is Hallmark movie crap. HBO is the only channel producing biopics and TV movies, but they are usually big budget.

If Netflix labelled a series "movie of the week" and released a new one each week, I think that would do really well. Black Mirror has scored as an anthology and they need something to differentiate from some of the bad series crap they keep forcing on us, with Disney and Hulu nipping at their heels.

Some of my favorites from back in the day:

It Happened One Christmas - Marlo Thomas Backstairs at the White House - Leslie Uggams (miniseries) Touched by Love (theatrical release originally?) - Diana Lane and Deborah Raffin Skyward - paraplegic pilot Suzy Gilstrap and mechanic Bette Davis Family Reunion - Miss Bette Davis Scruples _ Lindsay Wagner Help Wanted, Male - Gil Gerard, Suzanne Pleshette

Patty Duke queen of TV movies ❤️

Patty Duke and Al Freeman Jr in My Sweet Charlie. Scandelous! From wikipedia: Set during the Civil Rights Movement, Charlie Roberts is a militant African American attorney from New York City falsely accused of murder during a demonstration in rural Texas.

Escaping from his captors, Charlie breaks into a vacant coastal vacation home, where he encounters white Marlene Chambers, an uneducated, prejudiced, unwed pregnant teenager who has been shunned by her father and boyfriend due to her pregnancy, and who sought refuge in the vacant home a few weeks before Charlie arrives.

Realizing their survival depends upon their willingness to help each other, their relationship, at first defined by mutual contempt, prejudice, and hostility, slowly evolves into a touching friendship.

The mother, r149? Why couldn’t it have been an equally hot brother?

MMMMM. When John Terlesky is done, I want Tom Berenger to step up and put the plug back in.

Bitches, have any of you seen this classic?

Bay Coven starring Pamela Sue Martin and a group of Satanic witches.

Winnie - Meredith Baxter Birney plays a retarded woman looking for love.

[italic]The Dark Secret of Harvest Home,[/italic] starring Miss Bette Davis as the high priestess of a fertility cult in a New England town

Anyone remember the tv movie where a very permed Linda Blair must do supernatural battle with her "cousin" who turns out to be some kind of backwater bayou witch?

Summed of Fear, r161.

Like Normal People (1979) - Shaun Cassidy and Linda Purl as a mentality challenged couple who fall in love.

[italic]Summer of Fear,[/italic] originally broadcast as [italic]Stranger in Our House[/italic]

No Other Love (1979) - Richard Thomas and Julie Kavner as a mentally challenged couple who fall in love.

My breast starring Meredith Baxter Birney

I liked ALL TV movies starring Lindsay Wagner.

"Small Sacrifices" - Farrah Fawcett

Watch Scruples starring Lindsay Wagner, bitch!

"The Gathering" - one of the best Christmas movies starring Ed Asner, Maureen Stapleton. I try to watch it every year.

Some already mentioned:

"Home for the Holidays" - Great Cast, Christmas murder mystery.

"The Night Stalking" - terrifying.

A nice comedy "Shirts/Skins" about 6 guys who have a weekly basketball game. They decide to have a bet, breaking into 2 teams of 3 each. The bet? Each team will hide a basketball somewhere in the city. The basketball must be completely visible and the first team to find and recover the other team's basketball wins.

^^ Should be "Stalker".

There have been many threads on the good ol' tv movies of yesteryear. A lot of them were unforgettable. They don't make 'em like that anymore, sad to say.

No one thought to mention me? Probably due to the fuckhead and the cunt.

Those Lifetime made for tv movies aren't in the same class as the ones made decades earlier. They're actually inferior, very repetitive, and the ones based on a real story (like the Betty Broderick movies) are at times extremely inaccurate.

This is Datalounge, Betty @ r173. We never give up an opportunity to mention you. See r47.

Why did the TV movie die? I mean, we still have strong cable films like The Normal Heart on HBO. But on network TV they are extinct.

It's nice to see some of the movies mentioned have been issued on Blu-ray. Kino Lorber has reissued The Night Stalker, The Night Strangler and Trilogy of Terror in special edition reissues (The Burning Bed and The Executioner's Song were issued awhile back). . As well, Summer of Fear was also issued on Blu-ray.

R157- No, but I remember David Ackroyd. He used to be in a lot of TV shows but then he just disappeared.

An Early Frost, the first AIDS movie for TV (and seen by an amazing 34 million people)

Trilogy of Terror, if only for the 3rd story with Karen Black and a Zuni doll.

R157, he was in Another World for years and tried his hand in LA, didn't succeed and I think left the business.

Does anyone remember the 70s movie about the bedwetter who had to run home because his mom hung his pissy sheets out the window? And he became an Olympic champion?

I think it's called The Loneliest Runner with Lance Kerwin but I'm not sure.

I remember it, R180 - and it was directed by Michael Landon of all people.

Someone up above (R103) mentioned What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice, but that played in theaters before being shown on TV several years later.

Anyway, I wanted to mention Home for the Holidays, which has quite the cast . . .

Sally Field, Jessica Parker, Julie Harris, Walter Brennan and Eleanor Parker . . .

and it was written by Joseph Stefano who wrote the screenplay for Psycho

TV movies are still being made. They just are no longer shown on networks.

R120- John Rubinstein was really good in the role of Justin---I'm surprised he never made the jump to film because he was a pretty decent actor.

I loved The Anna Nicole and Jodie Arias movies.

God Bless The Child with Mare Winningham, who plays a poverty stricken mother who has to give up her kid. Can't believe she was married to A. Martinez in 1982.

[quote] Like Normal People (1979) - Shaun Cassidy and Linda Purl as a mentality challenged couple who fall in love.

the day after it aired, all the children on the playground at my elementary school were running around imitating Linda Purl: "WOGER, I WANNA HAVVA BAY-BEE!"

These sound great. I remember some of them. I guess TV movies could afford to go for stronger scripts. I hope some are on YouTube.

I don't know if it was an ABC Movie of the Week, but James Brolin was in something called "Trapped"- a man gets locked in a department store overnight and the store is guarded by vicious dogs so he has to fight to survive.

I couldn't get past the idea that a department store would just unleash a bunch of rabid dogs to guard everything. What happened to burglar alarms??

R188 Yeah, imagine this enticement - "Trapped" a man gets locked in a department store overnight and the store is guarded by vicious burglar alarms which he has to fight to survive. Riveting!

[italic] The Babysitter [/italic] 1980 Directed by Peter Medak, starring Stephanie Zimbalist, Patty Duke, William Shattner, Quinn Cummings, and John Houseman. For Steph lovers, she's in her prime in this made for TV thriller. There is a YouTube trailer, but sorry I can't link.

[italic]The Longest Night:[/italic] A rich girl is kidnapped and buried alive in an underground coffin with only a strawlike air tube and some water to keep her alive.

First, You Cry

[italic]Katherine[/italic] (1975): Sissy Spacek plays a young radical based on Patty Hearst and Diana Oughton of the Weather Underground.

"Like Normal People" and "No Other Love" came out around the same time. Reviews for both movies said that the actresses (Julie Kavner and Linda Purl) were both very good but that the actors (Richard Thomas and Sean Cassidy) were mediocre.

Mare gave a spectacular performance as, what else, a teen hooker in "Off the Minnesota Strip."

r37 I must have missed that thread but that was a fun movie. The older sister from Little House On The Prairie was an evil bitch and I adored her for it!

Does anyone remember that Kristy McNichol movie called Love, Mary? I think it was based on a true story about a woman who went to medical school in her middle age. I thoroughly it was pretty good.

[italic]Sweet Hostage,[/italic] starring Martin Sheen as an escaped mental patient and Linda Blair as a dumb country girl he kidnaps and imprisons a remote cabin. There he teaches her how to read and make the sexy times.

Caroline

Something Evil with little Jodie Davis from Family Affair.

"Sweet Hostage" was so stupid. Martin Sheen's mental case kidnaps a nubile teenage girl but all this does is keep him to himself, doesn't fuck or abuse her in any way. And she falls in love with him and they make love sweet love. What hooey! Anyway, I heard that Linda Blair really DID fall for Martin Sheen but he did not reciprocate her feelings. Little LInda was quite a slut back in the day; I guess Martin Sheen didn't go for her type.

Leave Yesterday Behind, starring John Ritter and Carrie Fisher. It's about a guy who gets paralyzed in an accident and finds love.

[italic]A Girl Named Sooner:[/italic] During the Depression, a girl raised by an abusive old hag (Cloris Leachman as you've never seen her before!) is taken away by the authorities and placed with a kindly childless couple who help her unlearn her backwoods ways.

[italic]Suddenly, Love:[/italic] Sudsy Douglas Sirk–style romance about a rich but doomed Yale Law professor (Paul Shenar) who falls for a working-class goil from Brooklyn (Cindy Williams). Co-starring Eileen Heckart as his overprotective mother who thinks Cindy is a golddigging harlot.

^ Whoops, Eileen Heckart played Cindy's mom—Miss Joan Bennett played Paul Shenar's mom. And it was produced by Mr. Ross Hunter, so it has plentiful melodramatic cred.

When Michael Calls scared the living hell out of me as a kid. A nice divorced mom starts getting frantic calls from her nephew Michael, who died 15 years before! The voice of that kid was terrifying. "Why didn't you pick me up from school?" Then later "I'm home, but nobody's here! Where is everyone?" and then "I'm dead, aren't I? I'm deeead!"

Loved the woman in peril movies on Lifetime!

[italic]Someone's Watching Me!,[/italic] in which Lauren Hutton deals with a pesky phone stalker

For being about a nearly extinct genre, this thread is pretty healthy. Here is some recommended reading for enthusiasts:

And this one:

The campy TV remake of [italic]Midnight Lace,[/italic] starring Mary Crosby from [italic]Dallas[/italic]

I forgot Brians Song was a movie of the week.

A Very Missing Person starring wannabe DL fav Eve Arden.

R120- There's a scene cut out of this link that's kind of important because it shows why Liza wanted to divorce Eddie- she thought he was fooling around with the models he was photographing- meanwhile, he thinks she left because he didn't want to have kids.

Also, A Taste Of Evil, starring Barbaras Parkins and Stanwyck . An emotionally unstable young woman returns home after a sojourn in a mental institution following her rape by a stranger, and her widowed mom is terribly worried that being back on the family estate will trigger traumatic memories for her daughter. Man, if either of them knew what was coming! All I remember is the barest outlines of the plot, and that it was scary as hell and the line near the end "You're dead! You're DEAD! Susan killed you, I MADE Susan kill you, you're deeeead!"

[italic]Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold[/italic] was Kim Basinger's first feature-length movie role.

What was interesting about all those '70s occult thrillers is how often the dark side won.

A really good "docudrama" called "Deadly Intentions" featuring two DL faves, Michael Biehn and Cloris Leachman, playing Nurse Diesel straight.

J'adore Parkins. Such a sultry voice and interesting accent for an American.

As a young teen I was sucked in by 'A Girl Named Sooner' starring Richard Crenna, Lee Remick and DL fav Cloris Leachman as moonshiner who gives up a 'forrester child' in backwoods Indiana during the Depression. Cloris does and amazing job.

Many of you girls surely remember this!

[italic]The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan[/italic] starred Lindsay Wagner in a time-travel romance pre-dating [italic]Somewhere in Time.[/italic]

"I forgot Brians Song was a movie of the week."

"Brian's Song"...now there was a classic. One of the best tv movies of all time. James Caan was so adorable in it.

R151 That was nothing compared the international acclaim I received in "Never Say Never: The Deidre Hall Story"... Starring me Deidre Hall as Deidre Hall.

[italic]Winner Take All:[/italic] Shirley Jones falls into the clutches of compulsive gambling.

Some movie that tied in with Guiding Light using their actors/characters. Think Lauren Hutton played assistant DA to Ross Marler.

Fuck you, Dee Dee Halls!

Fallen Angel with the late, great Dana Hill. Richard Masur was chilling as the child molester.

A much earlier Fallen Angel starred the late, great Dana Andrews. Alice Faye was terrifying as a serious dramatic actress!

[quote] The Babysitter 1980 Directed by Peter Medak, starring Stephanie Zimbalist, Patty Duke, William Shattner, Quinn Cummings, and John Houseman. For Steph lovers,

There must be one or two of them!

"You'll Like My Mother". 1972. Starting Patty Duke and Richard Thomas.

r229, that was a theatrical release, not a made-for-TV movie (believe it or not).

Cloris sure like to stay busy, didn't she.

"Force of Evil," starring Lloyd Bridges, Pat Crowley, and Eve Plumb. (Basically, it's a remake of the original "Cape Fear")

This House Possessed- Parker Stevenson and Lisa Eilbacher. It was pretty lame but Parker looked good.

R228 It can be confounding researching that title as there ARE several films by the same name, yet I believe only one (1980) was a "made for TV movie". They aren't the same story or re-makes either. If you add the words TV movie, as well as year you shall find it.

[italic]In This House of Brede,[/italic] starring Diana Rigg and based on the novel by Rumer Godden (who also wrote [italic]Black Narcissus[/italic])

R228- The Babysitter sounds like The Hand That Rocks The Cradle.

Celebrity (1984) Trailer

"The Jericho Mile" - 1979 | Michael Mann, Director

Rain Murphy (Peter Strauss) is a man sentenced to life in prison, choosing to do his time in near-isolation, and engages in distance running when given the opportunity for free-time. While his form and speed capture the attention of prison officials who believe he could be competitive for the Olympics, Murphy expresses disinterest. But when the one man he has befriended is taken advantage of by political groups within the prison, Murphy decides to pursue the opportunity presented to him in his memory. This action not only has profound changes on him, but also on the atmosphere of the inmates in the prison and their outlook on the accomplishments he can make.

It's a better film than [italic] The Hand That Rocks The Cradle [/italic].

^ for R236 (P.S. She's a serial killer)

[italic]Celebrity[/italic] was titillating to me BECAUSE GAY STUFF.

Also: [italic]Dress Gray[/italic] with furry young Alec Baldwin.

How could you all forget "The Awakening Land", with Liz Montgomery, Hal Holbrook, and Jane Seymour. Even William Macy was in it.

GARGOYLES. Actors: Cornel Wilde, Grayson Hall, Jennifer Salt SALEM'S LOT Actors: David Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin, Bonnie Bedelia, Lew Ayres

Still watch these two. Salem's Lot scared the shit out of me back then.

r242 If I remember right Seymour gets terrorized by a mountain lion in her cabin and never speaks again?

Queen of the Stardust Ballroom 1975. For anyone that is a Maureen Stapleton fan, this story is a wonderful, old fashioned love story.

Devil Dog The Hound of Hell (1978)

OP so oy vey then, wasn't it? If you must, stay BEHIND the camera lense.

R246! I remember that. Stepmom said I was weird for wanting to watch it. She warned me it was "crazy jews playing dress up for a buck." It was that movie, Devil Dog! As I excitedly sat in front of TV, she bent over to me and said that while pointing at the TV. She nearly ruined it for me.

Now i'd like to see it get the ole Rifftrax treatment.

R225 i loved joan but holy shit

That is so fucking low. Now i know why she was forgotten at the oscars in memoriam.

Lowly. Hell bound. No recovery. Hell awaits you.

Fuck. I loved her so.

R225 27 minutes in. I can't. Was Celebrity Ghost Stories a lie?

r248 That would be brilliant because of Escape to Witch Mountain.

Nightkill {1980}

A woman is convinced by her lover to poison her cruel husband, a rich businessman. However, she becomes terrified when she finds the lover dead as well. A sinister PI, who's investigating her husband's disappearance, contacts her.

The Hearst and Davies Affair starring Robert Mitchum as William Randolph Hearst and Virginia Madsen as Mariin Davies.

^^Marion Davies^^^

r75 Trump has a cameo in that

Watch Sins starring Joan Collins.

If SINS had a theatrical release (which it should have; ABC even promoted it as being the most expensive TV production ever, and the one with the most costume changes) Collins should have been given an Oscar.

Her work in that is superb.

Oops! It was CBS not ABC.

Yes, I recently bought the DVD of the CBS mini-series, Sins, starring Joan Collins. Love it.

Summer Girl was another variation on The Babysitter, this time with Kim Darby as the mousey housewife, Barry Bostwick as the stud hubby and early '80s girl of the moment Diane Franklin as the she-cat intent on getting in BB's drawls.

great 70s TV movies stuff in here -- THAT CERTAIN SUMMER, BORN INNOCENT, RICH MAN POOR MAN, A CASE OF RAPE, LIZZIE BORDEN, MY SWEET CHARLIE ...

1978's A Question of Love is I think the first-ever lesbian TV movie.

It starred Gena Rowlands in a custody battle with her ex-husband, who demands the kids stay with him because Rowlands is in a relationship with a woman (Jane Alexander).

R261 "Rich Man, Poor Man" was actually one of ABC's first mini-series. And a great one at that. The debut of the then-gorgeous Nick Nolte.

It was promoted as a miniseries, but "V" was really just over two nights, so more like two movies of the week. Starring Marc Singer, who my mother always wondered why he wasn't cast as an alien because he kind of looks like a lizard.

Someone posted "v" in under 10 minutes on You Tube. Which is kind of a tragedy, because I loved every minute of this. But just listening to the guy who does the introduction/voiceover makes me nostalgic. I used to love how it was the same voice guy doing promos for comedies and dramas, and how he'd change his vocals based on what he was promoting.

[quote]1984 - Something About Amelia. A little something for the pedophiles, starring Ted Danson and Glenn Close.

If I remember, the kicker to Amelia is that molesting daddy Ted isn’t even prosecuted and the family decides they can work through this just through family counseling(!)

These are my top picks:

Go Ask Alice, Sunshine, Breezy, Ode to Billie Joe, A Girl Called Sooner (features Chloris Leachman!) and the classic Dawn, Portrait of a Teenage Runaway.

R29--I also like Mr & Mrs Bojo Jones! I read the book, too.

Go Ask Alice made me want to DO DRUGS and RUN AWAY TO SF to open an incense shop with bead curtains in the doorways. Classify this one under "deterrence failure."

[quote] and early '80s girl of the moment Diane Franklin as the she-cat intent on getting in BB's drawls.

That must have been some accent Barry had!

R180---I remember The Loneliest Runner and forgot to add to my list at 266. I just scrolled thru all the responses to see if anyone had mentioned it. I was also going to ask does anyone remember this one. Kid Michael Landon's mom was so mean about his bedwetting, she'd hang his pissy sheets out the window and he would RACE home to tear them down before other kids saw them! Thus, a top-notch athlete resulted.

The star of The loneliest Runner was Timothy Patrick Murphy, who died of AIDS.

Jamie Smith Jackson, the star of [italic]Go Ask Alice,[/italic] also co-starred in [italic]Bug,[/italic] a William Castle production about prehistoric killer roaches unleashed on a hapless town after an earthquake. Yes, it was a theatrical release, but it did air on CBS after its first run, and my mom and I laughed at how bad it was.

[quote] I was also going to ask does anyone remember this one. Kid Michael Landon's mom was so mean about his bedwetting, she'd hang his pissy sheets out the window and he would RACE home to tear them down before other kids saw them!

I do remember it because it was so strange. I always thought the mother would be exposing herself to as much ridicule as her son: "Look, Gladys can't even bleach urine stains out of her son's white linens properly. Tsk, tsk, tsk!"

Anyone mentioned Elvis and the beauty queen? Don Johnson as Elvis. Worst casting ever

Shame on you, r270. You didn't mention it starred Miss Rhoda Penmark!

Craptastic! THE WILD WOMEN OF CHASTITY GULCH (1982), a rom-com set in Civil War-era Missouri. Starring: Priscilla Barnes, Lee Horsley, Joan Collins, Pamela Bellwood, Morgan Brittany, Phyllis Davis, Howard Duff, Jeanette Nolan, Donny Osmond, and Lisa Whelchel. An Aaron Spelling Production.

I watched this last night. Every Lifetime movie cliche is there and then at the end they just gave up and the ending is abrupt and underwritten. But it still has a charm and quirkiness that you don’t find in the few Hallmark/Lifetime movies they make now.

Ya'll know Morgan Brittany was in The Sound of Music, right? She changed her name for adult acting.

Morgan Brittany will always be this in our DL hearts.....

Yikes, looks like Girl Damian wants to push someone down a flight of stairs! What's the tv movie?

I still don't understand why they no longer make these on network TV. Everyone liked them.

A Promise to Carolyn starring Delta Burke and Swoosie Kurtz was great about three sisters who were abused by their step mom and she “accidentally” kills one. Years later they want her convicted.

Sssssss (1973)

“No One Would Tell” starring Candace Cameron and Fred Savage was great. Teenage love gone wrong when he begins to beat her and eventually murders her.

Fred Savage was hot and beefy as hell in this one.

[R281]

The wasn't a TV movie.

[italic]These Old Broads[/italic]

A Killer Among Friends was great. Patty Duke and Tiffani Thiesen. Thiesen is murdered by her friends cause they’re jealous of her and Duke is trying to find out who murdered her daughter.

[quote]Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay,[/italic] based on Mary Kay Ash's real-life feud with Jinger Heath of rival cosmetics company BeautiControl. Made in 2002 but has that old-time Movie of the Week magic.

Sorry, R283!

Will this do?

[R287] That works for me, lol!

The tv remake of Splendor in the Grass, starring Shitbra Gilbert and a pre-famous Michelle Pfeiffer

"Something Evil" (listed above) was also directed by Steven Spielberg, and like "Duel" its beautifully filmed and very suspenseful. It's very much worth a look.

Sally Field IS .....A Woman of Independent Means!!!

Friends Til The End (1997) - starring Shannon Doherty. A popular college girl finds herself being Single White Female'd. Doherty weirdly plays the hero and not the psycho.

I've always loved this one.

Has "Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole" been mentioned?

Susan Hayward's swan song.

How did good Christian girl Lisa Whelchel get involved with that Old West whore movie (which I did indeed love)? Everybody else was basically under contract to Aaron Spelling, so you know they were there to please Daddy. But Lisa? Did Heather Locklear drop out at the last minute and Lisa was what they could get?

Lisa was also in Skyward, a Ron Howard-directed TV movie mentioned upthread. How do you think Lisa got along with Bette Davis?

John Carpenter did a few of these, in 1978 the same year he wrote produced and direct the classic horror film Halloween and wrote the Faye Dunaway camp fest The Eyes of Laura Mars, he directed Someone's Watching Me! starring 70s supermodel Lauren Hutton and Maude star and his future wife Adrienne Barbeau, and he wrote Zuma Beach starring Suzanne Somers, at that time Chrissy Snow from Three's Company, Rosanna Arquette, Michael Beihn and his Halloween actress PJ Soles.

In 1979 he directed the critically acclaimed Emmy winning TV movie/biopic , and his follow up to Halloween, ELVIS! starring Kurt Russell as Elvis Presley, Shelley Winters and Season Hubley, God I love that name

Erik Estrada turned down Zuma Beach since they asked him to audition. Shame, but we did see him at his prime in Honeyboy.

A Death in California when Sam Elliott was at his finest. I remember fapping several times at the scene where Elliott enters the bedroom to have sex with Cheryll Ladd. The story and the acting were very good.

Cheryl Ladd was unbelievably bad in "When She Was Bad." She played an abusive mother married to hottie Robert Urich. She dressed the same as her daughter, Robbie - they had matching outfits. It was very similar to the JonBenet Ramsey story, but years and years before that and Robbie didn't die since they tried to get help for Cheryl Ladd.

The funniest part was hearing Angel Cheryl Ladd bark out "ROBBIE!" "ROBBIE YOU GET OVER HERE!!" "ROBBBBIEEEE!"

here it is

"Salem's Lot" is terrifying.

Then there is...

"Kingdom of the Spiders" 1977 starred William Shatner, Woody Strode, Altovise Davis, ...

Tarantulas take over s small town....

The ending (no I will not spoil it) is really creepy.

1989 - From the Dead of Night

Lindsay Wagner. Kind of a loose remake of Carnival of Souls.

Maggie Cole...with Susan Hayward either fresh off a facelift or filmed with a camera covered in Vaseline.

And with a theme song by Dusty Springfield, baby!

R255- Yes, Trump was in it and ironically, he was so nice and accommodating to Maxie. No hint of trying to scam her out of money. Go figure.

Susan Hayward does look good there. Not aged much from her old films. Too bad she died soon after that.

Agreed, R150, I always thought “Caroline” was excellent. Terrific cast, intriguing and ultimately very moving story.

Just thought of a couple of gay ones:

Our Sons was about a gay man (Željko Ivanek) dying of AIDS. His BF (Hugh Grant) asks his mother (Julie Andrews) to notify the estranged mother (Ann-Margaret), unaware that fireworks will ensue.

Doing Time on Maple Drive was similar to Consenting Adult - a young closeted teenager struggling to come out. (The movie's tagline was, "They are living a lie called the Perfect American Family.") Ken Olin directed.

Doing Time on Maple Drive also featured a rare dramatic performance from Jim Carrey.....he was actually good

R54, This is one of those times when I wish DL weren't anonymous, because from what you describe, it sounds like we had parallel childhoods.

How about Scarlett, the made-for-tv sequel to Gone With the Wind......you gotta love anything that features everyone from Sir John Gielgud to Ann Margret to Stephen "Pedo" Collins in the cast.

R309- If they were going to do Scarlett, too bad they didn't choose Sherilyn Fenn in the role- much better choice than Joanne Whalley.

What about "The Girl Most Likely To...", a black comedy written by Joan Rivers. It's the story of Miriam Knight, a socially awkward, atrociously homely, but near genius girl who is rejected and humiliated by just about everyone. She makes Carrie White, the telekinetic heroine of Stephen Kings "Carrie", seem popular. Miriam is played by Stockard Channing. Whoever did the makeup for the movie should have won an Emmy because Miriam Knight is one of the most hideous females you'll ever see outside of a horror movie. But she seems so real. And there are probably girls out there like her.

I thought Whalley was fine

The TV movie featuring characters from Guiding Light was called The Cradle Will Fall. If you blink much, you will miss most of the GL actors.

One of the big TV movie “events” I remember was Queenie, starting Mia Sara. There’s an attempted rape scene that disturbed me. The whole movie seemed weird and sleazy to me. I don’t think I watched all of it. I was about 7 or 8 years old when it aired. Another red flag about my nascent homosexuality, I guess, that I was even interested at all in seeing it.

[quote]The Babysitter 1980 Directed by Peter Medak, starring Stephanie Zimbalist, Patty Duke, William Shattner, Quinn Cummings, and John Houseman. For Steph lovers, she's in her prime in this made for TV thriller. There is a YouTube trailer, but sorry I can't link.

There is (was?) an HD cable channel called MGM-HD that aired this several years ago, and someone captured it and has sold it on DVD-R on those sites like iOffer.com. I own a copy. I wish that person would press a blu ray of it. I remember even renting the VHS in the 80s, I liked it so much. The cover art was great.

"It Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy" -- Paul Sorvino as a male chauvinist who ends up getting raped at gunpoint by a woman. And it's a comedy!

I'll take Movies That Can't Be Made Today for $400, Alex...

A woman raping Paul Sorvino at gunpoint? Was this a science fiction film?

Five Desperate Women -- titular college buddies rent a cabin on a remote island and are terrorized by an escaped mental patient posing as a caretaker. Which of the two caretakers is the killer, tall, handsome, friendly Brad Dillman or intense, Napoleon-complexed Robert Conrad? Three guesses, the first two don't count.

Also, could someone explain the deal with the blonde and her mom and the nurse (the first post-credits scene)?

Personally I would NEVER go to a reunion on a remote island.

Ahem....Have you all met me?

[quote] How did good Christian girl Lisa Whelchel get involved with that Old West whore movie (which I did indeed love)? Everybody else was basically under contract to Aaron Spelling, so you know they were there to please Daddy. But Lisa?

Lisa was obsessed with becoming a whore in the Old West after seeing "The Harvey Girls" and desperately identifying with Angela Lansbury's character. She also loved re-runs of "Gunsmoke" and would be heard to say while watching it, "Miss Kitty... I want to be just like her some day!"

"It Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy" -- Paul Sorvino as a male chauvinist who ends up getting raped at gunpoint by a woman. And it's a comedy!"

I guess the "comedy" came from the idea that there would actually be a woman who wanted to rape pudgy, unprepossessing Paul Sorvino.

It was considered a miniseries because it was two parts, but “An Inconvenient Woman” was excellent. Based on Dominick Dunne’s take on the Alfred Bloomingdale-Vicki Morgan scandal, it was fun and had a terrific cast, including Jason Robards, Jill Eikenberry, Peter Gallagher, Elaine Stritch, and as the Inconvenient Woman herself, a never-better Rebecca DeMornay.

"When She Was Bad" (1979), with Miss Cheryl Ladd as an abusive mama, Robert Urich as her inattentive husband, Eileen Brennan as her supportive friend, and a young Nicole Eggert as the abused child.

The Two Mrs. Grenvilles was a lot of fun

[quote]How about Scarlett, the made-for-tv sequel to Gone With the Wind......you gotta love anything that features everyone from Sir John Gielgud to Ann Margret to Stephen "Pedo" Collins in the cast.

Don't forget me, motherfucker at R309.

It was lovely to see Claudette again, r324.

Omg!

Sally Fields “Maybe I’ll Come Home in the Spring”

‘Maybe I’ll come home in the spring’ is probably my favorite TV movie of all time as a kid. It’s when I first realized what a great dramatic actress Sally Fields was.

I’ve always liked Lane Bradbury, the fine actress who played Sally Field’s sister in “Maybe I’ll Come Home in the Spring”. A TV perennial in the 60s and 70s, she was also Broadway’s original Dainty June in “Gypsy” and in the OBC of “The Night of the Iguana”, too.

Agree, r330…she’s great.

Even M has one in her resume... “First Do No Harm”.

Saint Maybe, starring Thomas McCarthy who is now a successful film director.

Mary & Tim - a remake of the Mel Gibson movie, with Thomas McCarthy in the Gibson role and Candace Bergen in the Piper Laurie role.

Forgot the pic!

R154 she won the first Emmy that was ever given for an actress for a TV movie.

R332, more than one. This is probably her first, "The Deadliest Season" opposite creepy Michael Moriarty. It's about a hockey player on trial for murder on the rink. Even in this seen, you can see Streep is something special.

Pack Of Lies, starring Ellen Burstyn and Teri Garr.

I blame Lifetime for destroying the TV movie genre. All of those women-in-jeopardy plotlines done over and over and over and over again.

A Time to Live with Liza with a Z and Corey Haim

Poker Alice with Liz Taylor as a whorehouse madam

Double Platinum with Diana Ross and Brandy

The West Side Waltz with Liza, Shirley MacLaine, Kathy Bates and Jennifer Grey

I finally saw Pack of Lies last year -- what a stunning film...

Neither A Case of Rape nor The Burning Bed seem to be available in the full movie versions on YouTube.

God Bless the Child is one of the best movies ever made for TV or anything. I can't watch it. I end up in tears and depressed for days on end. I believe this movie was made in the Reagan era, when the poor first became the enemy of the country and to this day not only has that changed but it's gotten worse. It's a very realistic and gut wrenching movie.

Summer Of My German Soldier

I think films based on plays start off with stronger scripts, r341.

Poor Esther Rolle...she hated playing domestics but always ending up playing them r343.

Plus, she had no neck.

[quote]Erik Estrada turned down Zuma Beach since they asked him to audition. Shame, but we did see him at his prime in Honeyboy.

I remember jerking off to that issue of TV Guide with Erik as Honeyboy.

"I blame Lifetime for destroying the TV movie genre. "

Please, it has nothing to do with Lifetime and everything to do with the fact that they weren't profitable for the networks anymore. Cable channels still do movies.

347 replies and no mention of Something For Joey?

Something for Joey

I got something for Joey.

Joey here, somebody got something for me?

"Pack of Lies" was excellent. I also enjoyed "The Tenth Man" with Anthony Hopkins and Kristin Scott-Thomas, and have a soft spot for the guilty pleasure "My Boyfriend's Back" with Sandy Duncan, Jill Eikenberry and DL fave Judith Light.

I liked the Lifetime movies about Brittany Murphy and the two Corys (Haim and Feldman)

I’m a sucker for a TV movie about inspiring public school teachers!

R269 No, it was Lance Kerwin, who's still alive.

Good God, why isn’t Netflix buying up all of these gems?

R356 cause they are building their platform to be all originals.

Justice for Annie.

Julie Barnes is Winnie Cooper's mother. Winnie gets married and moves away, but when her marriage fails she moves in with Roxanne Melman. Winnie dies mysteriously, and Julie learns that Roxanne was a beneficiary on a life insurance policy. Julie hires Sgt. Belker to get to the bottom of things.

Needful Things.

Two part. Stephen King novel.

Starred Ed Harris and Max von Sydow.

When it ran on TV there were added scenes that are not on the DVD, unfortunately. The added scenes provided background that made parts of the plot clearer.

Even so, terrific story.

The Stand is one of my favorite mini-series ever. Watch it every couple of years. Love love love it, even though it still creeps me out and scares me to this day lol.

My heart always breaks when Rob Lowe finds the bomb in the closet.

I also loved “The Jackson’s - An American Dream” mini-series. Was fantastic and was back when I loved Michael Jackson.

Miles To Go with Jill Clayburgh and Tom Skerrit. Jill has a recurrence of cancer that proves to be terminal and she prepares her family for life without her...really good performance by Jill.

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is one of the highlights of TV movies. If it was released theatrically Cicily Tyson would have been in Oscar contention.

Lisa Bright and Dark. With Kay Lenz. A group of teenage girls try to help their mentally ill friend.

Front Of The Class, starring the very hot James Wolk as a teacher who has Tourette's Syndrome. It's based on a true story.

Another true story: The Brooke Ellison Story. It was good but depressing as hell.

Bitches, you all are slipping! Those of a certain girth will remember the exhausting girl on "The House Without a Christmas Tree." Molly Shannon played tribute to it every chance she got.

For shame! How dare you forget this classic.

And lest you forget the (at the time) riveting J.T. You know, the little black kid who befriends a cat. I believe there was a racist old white lady who eventually warms up to him? This was my first look into the ghetto. I remember the sound and filming made it look like a documentary.

“A Killing In A Small Town”. Lame title but engrossing true life story starring Barbara Hershey. She won a well deserved Emmy for it.

Special People.

[italic]The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman[/italic]

Saw this as a youngster in the 80s and was really disturbed by it. The lady played by Colleen Dewhurst really fucked him up.

Manhunt: The Search For The Night Stalker

Despite being a network TV movie, this was pretty terrifying for me. I was 10 when it aired.

R368, that performance by Barbara Hershey was really stunning. Had it been a feature film nobody could come near challenging her for an Oscar, even Meryl.

I agree, r373, and I’m a huge M fan.

The People from 1972

A supernatural thriller involving a young teacher (Kim Darby) in a isolated California community who discovers that her pupils and their parents possess special powers and a secret bond.

How can anyone forget "Riding the Bus with My Sister"?

Do they give Razzie awards for TV performances?

The story that [italic]A Killing in a Small Town[/italic] was based on was completely fucked-up. The book about the case, [italic]Evidence of Love,[/italic] is one of the great true-crime novels, although it should probably have been called [italic]When Fraus Attack![/italic]

Candy Montgomery, a dowdy Texas housewife and Sunday-school teacher, inexplicably used her hot frau pussy to tempt a man from her church away from his equally dumpy wife, Betty Gore. Candy testified that Betty confronted Candy about the affair, then tried to kill her with an ax in a jealous rage, then got chopped to bits by Candy after she wrestled the ax away from her.

Betty was allegedly in such a blind fury that she kept trying to attack Candy, Jason-like, even after she was mortally wounded and her brains were oozing out. Candy got in more than 40 blows in all to her head and face.

She was acquitted on the grounds of self-defense, although Betty's husband testified that she had never confronted him and he had never confessed the affair to her, leading some to believe that Candy murdered Betty to get her out of the way for good.

After the trial, Candy got divorced, moved to Georgia, and became a therapist.

^ novels = stories (oops)

The Babysitter's Seduction (1996). Kerri Russell is the babysitter seduced by Stephen Collins

‘Evidence of Love’ was written by John Bloom aka Joe Bob Briggs.

In that picture at R377, which one is Betty and which one is Candy?

Donna Mills with red hair and amnesia.

Then there was the one where Donna Mills was the sex addict LOL and then the herpes movie with Judith Light.

Candy is the one with the glasses (also see Miss Barbara Hershey at R368)

I don't dare watch it now, but I loved this as a kid... Time Travelers. Two scientists are sent back in time to retrieve a cure for a disease, but they have to find it and return before getting caught in the Great Chicago Fire.

Dan Curtis' sequel to The Night Stalker . . .

The Night Strangler (also written by Richard Matheson)

So, r379......typecasting?

[Quote] Double Platinum with Diana Ross and Brandy

[Quote] I also loved “The Jackson’s - An American Dream” mini-series. Was fantastic and was back when I loved Michael Jackson.

I watched both of these on vhs alot.

What was the miniseries about the swinging condo complex? I think Julie Newmar was one of the stars.

Fab Five Texas Cheerleader Scandal with Jenna Dewan and Tatum O'Neal.

"Good God, why isn’t Netflix buying up all of these gems?"

Some of them are available at the Warner Archive

What about "Madonna: Innocence Lost" on FOX starring Terumi Matthews as Madonna

It was a real trashy biopic from 1994

Campy as hell

Born Innocent. Christ, I still have splinters in my snatch.

Lest we forget 'Twirl' starring DL icons, Lisa Whelchel and Erin Moran as teenage girls vying to become the top baton twirler in the country. With a supporting cast that includes Charles Haid, Stella Stevens, Heather Locklear and Ms. Donna McKechnie

Along the same lines and from the same era, there was also 'Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders' and its sequal 'Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders II', starring Ms. Jane Seymour, Mr. Burt Convey and Lauren Tewes. The first instalment was directed by former Mr. Goldie Hawn, Gus Trinkonas.

R383- That was called "Intimate Agony: The Story Of Herpes". What a title. This was supposed to be the big start to Tony Geary's post-GH career. Didn't work out quite the way he expected.

R367 JT: A Cat was written by Lily Tomlin's wife/husband Jane Wagner.

Some of my favorites

"She's Dressed to Kill" models stuck at a mountain villa being killed off one by one.

"Death Car on the Freeway" Shelly Hack as a reporter trying to stop the "Freeway Fiddler" who is driving female drivers off the road.

"Murder can Hurt You" a parody of TV cops shows like Starsky and Hutch and Columbo

I liked "Fresno" -- a paraody of Dallas and Dynasty.

Instead of oil or cattle, the family raised raisins.

Lynda Carter in the TV movie "Hotline" from 1982.

Kudos for such a wide variety of choices, and for me personally, I was going to add "J.T" and "The People", which I was convinced were way too obscure to get a mention. JT is one of those incredibly strong memories that I have from my childhood. For years I hoped it would be released on dvd but alas, what with dvds having become so passe to a lot of people, it probably won't ever happen.

The Candy Montgomery case had one of the most fucked up verdicts of all time. Montgomery, bored with her suburban housewife life, had an affair with the unattractive husband of a mentally unstable woman named Betty Gore. The mentally confused Betty Gore did confronted her with an ax and in the process Montgomery got a cut on her toe. But she got the ax away from Gore easily enough and disabled her immediately by cracking her head open with the ax. Instead of dropping the ax and getting the hell out of there she continued to chop Betty Gore up, chopping away at her dozens of times. Most of the ax blows were delivered while Gore was still alive. After reducing Gore to a bloody mess on the floor she went into the bathroom, showered and cleaned up, and left. Gore's infant daughter was in her crib at the time, and her husband was away on business, so Montgomery left the infant to her own devices. Montgomery lied through her teeth when questioned by police by eventually was arrested. Her defense attorney claimed that that it was self defense (40 ax blows is self defense?) and that Montgomery went into a psychotic frenzy due to something Betty Gore did (it was all HER fault!). She supposedly whispered "shhhhh" to Montgomery, setting off some kind of buried memory that made her go nuts. At any rate, the jury bought the insane defense and acquitted Montgomery of the appalling murder. Her defense attorney eventually committed suicide; did guilt at helping Montgomery get off torment him? Anyway there was a big uproar after the verdict. There was a poem that was circulated around town that went like this:

Candy Montgomery was a whore She screwed around with Allan Gore When Betty Gore brought it up Candy used an ax to cut her up

In Collin County murder's ok If you go to church and pray And don't worry, adultery's cool If you teach Sunday school!

Team Candy. Bitch swung at her first.

Dawn Anna starring current DL cuntress Debbie Wings. Directed by and co-written by husband Arless.

Although it aired on Lifetime it was actually a quality TV movie.

Thomas Calabro in Ladykillers (1988)

There was one where Jean Smart's husband turned out to be gay....forget the title

The miniseries Master of the Game with Dyan Cannon, Harry Hamlin, Ian Charleston and others. Despite the mediocre script, Charleston was actually really good....the movie suffers when his character dies

The best one I can think of is the mid 70s TV movie Griffin and Phoenix. With Peter Falk and Jill Clayburgh. It's about two terminally ill cancer patients who fall in love. It was so good it probably deserved a theatrical release. It had a 2006 remake which wasn't nearly as good. Hell it wasn't even good at all.

One that I saw on PBS - it might have been made by the BBC - was The Lost Language of Cranes (based on the David Leavitt book) about a young man who comes out to his family, which leads his middle-aged father to face his own hidden sexuality. Angus Macfadyen was the young guy, Cory Parker (of thirtysomething fame) was the BF and Brian Cox was the father.

Call Me: The Rise And Fall Of Heidi Fleiss.

The Unauthorized Biography Of Melrose Place.

Wasn't there one back in the 70s called The Effects Of Gamma Rays On Man Of The Moon Marigolds, or something like that? About a drunk ass mother and her kids?

Texas Monthly feature on the Candy Montgomery case

Who will love my children with Ann Margret.

David’s Mother.

Love Kirstie’s DL line to the little girl staring at her son.

QBVII was a two-nighter: Ben Gazzara, Anthony Hopkins, Leslie Caron, Lee Remick, John Gielgud, Anthony Quayle, Juliet Mills, Anthony Andrews, Edith Evans and Judy Carne (!) were in the cast. Jerry Goldsmith did the music. Based on a novel by Leon Uris, it was about a Polish doctor who sues an American writer for accusing him of assisting Nazis with medical experiments on Jews during the Holocaust.

I think Lifetime has some pretty good movies: Anna Nicole, The Client List, Gracie's Choice, A Girl Like Me (The Gwen Araujo Story), Homeless To Harvard (Liz Murray Story), and A Diva's Christmas Carol, starring Vanessa Williams and Kathy Griffin.

"Team Candy. Bitch swung at her first."

Nope. Betty Gore just brandished it, she didn't swing it. And your beloved Candy is a real cunt: fucking poor Betty Gore's husband, then chopping her up with and ax, leaving Betty's baby alone for what might have been days (Allan Gore was on a business trip), then lying about everything when she got found out. Candy Montgomery is an AXE MURDERESS. And you're on her "team?" Something's wrong with you.

Sleeping With The Devil, starring Shannen Dougherty.

"The Sex Symbol", starring Connie Stevens as Kelly Williams, a thinly disguised version of Marilyn Monroe. Boy, is it campy.

Night Sins

I can’t wait for the reboot of this “I’ve got syphilis” movie, sponsored by Truvada.

Texas Justice, about the T. Cullen Davis saga, starring Heather Locklear, Dennis Franz, and Peter Strauss

DL patron saint Bonnie Franklin plays the title nun in 1987's Sister Margaret and the Saturday Night Ladies. Also featuring Rosemary Clooney!

We can't leave DL fave Betty Broderick out of this.

A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story (1992)

There was a TV Miniseries in the mid-80s about the first Olympic Games. I remember reading or hearing that it would feature mail nudity, so I tuned in. And there was a scene that showed some of the athletes butts, but I was so bored by the movie I turned it off. (Admittedly, I was probably a little young for its target demographic.)

R409 there was a movie of Gamma Rays with Joanne Woodward, directed by Newman.

R395, those were the days, when herpes was the biggest concern...

I Know My First Name Is Steven

"The Suicide's Wife" (c.1978), with a great Angie Dickinson.

"There was a TV Miniseries in the mid-80s about the first Olympic Games. I remember reading or hearing that it would feature mail nudity, so I tuned in. And there was a scene that showed some of the athletes butts, but I was so bored by the movie I turned it off. (Admittedly, I was probably a little young for its target demographic.)"

I remember this! It featured a young David Caruso

R423, mail nudity? The envelopes weren't wearing any stamps?

[quote]"The Suicide's Wife" (c.1978), with a great Angie Dickinson.

They reran it a few minutes months after it first aired under a different title: "A New Life." Todd Lookinland, Bobby Brady's younger brother, played her son.

[italic]Chiefs[/italic] (1983): Three police chiefs in a small Georgia town (Wayne Rogers, Brad Davis, and Billy Dee Williams) investigate a series of murders committed over several decades by a John Wayne Gacy–like sexual predator (Keith Carradine).

^ Sounds interesting. I had a crush on Brad Davis back in the day

R429 the envelopes were transparent.

Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story with Stockard Channing. Another one that was good enough for a theatrical release. With another title. That title sounds like something Ginger Rogers would have starred in during the 1930s.

Kitty O'Neil died last week.

Chiefs is on youtube:

Jesus. All these movies on YouTube. I should fucking save a few bucks and cancel my Netflix. I could be happy watching a lot of these gems.

R437 I know, right?! There’s so many ones that look great on this thread. I’m not sure where to start!

Another movie with Stockard Channing: The Baby Dance.

Which actor starred in the most tv movies? Melissa Gilbert? Valerie Bertinelli?

I'm surprised she hasn't gotten more mentions here but Lindsay Wagner was know as the TV movie queen for about a decade.

I remember one called Night Cries that starred Susan Saint James as a woman who loses a child but then starts being haunted by a child that may or may not be hers, I was really little when it aired so I only remembered the creepy commercials for it.

I checked Linsay's IMDB. She has 52 TV movies to her credit. Most with top billing or co top billing.

[italic]Green Eyes[/italic] (1977): A veteran (Paul Winfield) returns to Vietnam to search for the child he left behind.

Years ago I tracked down a VHS copy of Celebrity on ebay because someone here recommended it - I was not disappointed! It was a lot of fun.

^ The ending was a total WTF (in a good way).

OMG Celebrity. Not only because it had a cute lead who played a gay character it was just a very good movie. I read the book before the movie. Hiding it away in my room. It was a great book that would probably hold up if you read it today. It was a fascinating read for a young gay. He was played by Joseph Bottoms. LOL

[italic]Death Be Not Proud:[/italic] Tearjerker with Robby Benson, based on the memoir by John Gunther.

The ending of Celebrity if you want a spoiler.

R430 I remember the scene where Angie discovers her husband in the house after he had just blow his brains out. She runs out into the front yard in her nightgown in shock, trying to scream, but instead just running around in circles with her mouth agape and arms flailing. Emmy-worth stuff there.

How in the heck has Sybil been left off this list? Unfortunately, only clips of it seem to be available on Youtube.

R451 Well, are we talking TV movies here or TV miniseries? Because there's a big difference.

TV movies, or as they used to call them, "Movies of the Week," were generally produced on the cheap and had plots involving murder, horror, or romance. Some would try and be socially conscious, like those involving alcoholism, suicide, spousal abuse, or teenage prostitution, but for the most part, they were pretty cheesy (with a few notable exceptions).

TV miniseries, on the other hand, usually had bigger budgets and boasted bigger name stars. They were usually epic in their scope, like "Roots," "Centennial, "Rich Man, Poor Man," "The Thorn Birds," and of course, "Sybil." These were considered the "prestige" network productions.

Where Have all the People Gone....

fucking scared the shit out of me when I was a kid.

"Griffin and Phoenix: A Love Story," with Jilly Clayburgh and Peter Falk. A rare gem in the TV movie of the week genre. Wonderfully scripted and acted, and gut-wrenchingly sad.

WTF, no SOYLENT GREEN???? It's made of peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeoplllllllllllllllle!

Susan Clark is “Babe”!

R455 "Soylent Green" was a theatrical release.

Son-Rise: A Miracle Of Love 💕 🥰 💕

What is WRONG with you people? No one has mentioned Sharknado????

To R452, I'm R451.

It just says TV movie in the title of the thread. So I would assume both movie of the week, and the mini-series television films would be welcome. I know I've saved this this thread to have a long list of strange and disturbing films to get me through the long winter months.

Ok, now I need the collective on here to help me find a tv-movie I recall from the summer of '79, the first summer after I graduated high school. It had 2 best friends, one white and another latino. They were both cute. It wasn't a huge drama or anything, but the plot involving these friends deciding what to do after graduating high school I believe. So they open a taco shop together. Now that that I type it out, it sounds pretty stupid. There was no gay story line, just two best friends going into business together. Anyone recall this? I don't remember anything else. Help!

Sunshine. A young woman living in the woods with her husband, a struggling musician, and her daughter discovers she has terminal cancer. She begins to tape-record a journal of the time she has left.

Music by John Denver including Sunshine on my Shoulders and My Sweet Lady.

Tearjerker.

R454 - oddly enough it was remade in 2006 but as a theatrical film starring Dermot Mulroney and Amanda Peet.

"Malibu," a two-part miniseries from 1983, starring silver screen legends Kim Novak and Eva Marie Saint alongside such noted thespians as Susan Dey, Jennilee Harrison, Ann Jillian, Valerie Perrine, George Hamilton, and Anthony Newley, who wearily drones out the theme song.

There was a really creepy TV movie that I think starred Loretta Swit about 2 couples that go on some kind of a long road trip in their RV and stumble across what looks like a witchcraft cult performing a sacrifice and they get chased by the witches - sort of like "Duel".

“A Place For Annie” starring Sissy Spacek, Mary Louise Parker, Joan Plowright and homosexualist Jack Noseworthy.

I read the book Celebrity but did not see the movie, wish I could see it. The part I remember is the guy being half out of it and the last thing he remembered was the girl putting the gun barrel up her twat. That was scandalous to a 14 year old.

“Finnegan Begin Again” starring MTM and Robert Preston.

More recently, I liked BESSIE with Queen Latifah and Mo’Nique.

R465 It was called "Race with the Devil," but it was a theatrical release.

“Trapped” - a TNT original TV movie from the late 80s starring Kathleen Quinlan. Though not a perfect movie it had one of the most terrifying scenes I’ve ever seen in a horror film. Directed by the guy who did “When A Stranger Calls” (the Carol Kane version).

Just thought of this one . . .

Dracula, starring Jack Palance & directed by Dan Curtis (who directed a number of the films mentioned here).

I remember thinking at the time that it seemed really classy looking for a TV movie and then more recently read that it was in fact released theatrically in England some time after its TV showing in America.

Anyone remember 'The Last Best Year' with MTM as a therapist who works with a woman played by Ms. Bernadette Peters who has just been diagnosed with some terminal illness (don't remember, does it really matter?) and they wind up becoming friends.

Also one with Barbara Eden and Heather Locklear that was sort of an All About Eve ripoff, made at the time the whole Jane Pauley/Deborah Norville Today Show debacle was in the news.

TNT did a decent version of Heart of Darkness, with John Malkovich and Tim Roth

That sounds like another TV movie based on a book that had Lee Horsley and Miss Pam Dawber, r471.

Have we talked about "Blinded by the Light", featuring Kristy and Jimmy McNichol?

Mazes and Monsters (aka Rona Jaffe's Mazes and Monsters). It featured Tom Hanks post Bosom Buddies, but pre-theatrical stardom from Splash; David Wallace, best know for soap roles in Days and GH; and Wendy Crewson, recently minted lesbian.

It was a rip off on Dungeons and Dragons, and I got to stay up to watch because it was on during Chistmas break.

Cruel Doubt, about a real life murder that was supposedly inspired by Dungeons and Dragons. Starring GOOP and her mom!

Fatal Attraction. Oh wait. That was a theatrical release.

Beverly Hills Madam starring DL fav Faye Dunaway.

Linda Carter in "Stillwatch".

Wendy Crewson is a lesbian? I always associate her with early 2000 era Lifetime movies (I also assume she is Canadian, because, Lifetime movies and all...)

Well there's the whole genre of made-for-TV true crime dramas. One of my favorites is Wife, Mother, Murderer with Judith Light as Marie Hilley. The book Poisoned Blood is a great read, though the movie didn't use it as a source if I recall correctly.

Callie & Son with Lindsay Wagner and that hot piece of ass Jameson Parker.

Has anyone seen "When You Remember Me"? Fred Savage plays a kid with MD and he lives in a nursing home.

I'm loving this thread!

Does anyone remember the one where Bernadette Peters and Kevin Spacey played Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker?

MTM in First You Cry. A very special TV movie moment.

A Letter to Three Wives Starring Loni Anderson, Michelle Lee, and Stephanie Zimbalist Jr.

For r486

Trackdown: Finding the Goodbar Killer, the unofficial sequel to you-know-what. For some strange reason, they decided to set the movie in the then-present 1983.

The full movie is up on YouTube.

Death Scream, based on the infamous Kitty Genovese murder, in which several tenants of her apartment complex heard the attack, yet didn't call the police or come to her aid because they "didn't want to get involved".

Of Two Minds, starring Kristin Davis from SATC . She plays the older sister of a schizophrenic.

R465, that "Race with the Devil" was very scary.

Cast Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit and Lara Parker.

The ending (no spoilers) was terrifying.

Two part "Kane and Abel" starred Sam Neill and Peter Strauss.

Business rivals, one born rich, one born poor, compete over the years with a shocking reveal at the end.

Just as an aside for those surprised at the number of good things on Youtube, you should also know there is a huge number of great documentaries and old movies showing up all the time.

A couple weeks ago I caught a British film from 1960 called "The League of Gentlemen". A heist movie staring Jack Hawkins with a cast of very well known British actors like a young Richard Attenborough. If you look quickly you can find a walk-on of Oliver Reed.

There is a storehouse of old movies loaded up on Youtube.

Are they really extinct, OP? I think they just migrated to Lifetime and the Hallmark channel.

I love YouTube for its collection of old movies and black girls fighting.

Charlie's Angels star Jaclyn Smith stars in The Users. Smith rises from prostitute to queen of Beverly Hills.

That Certain Summer with Hal Holbrook and Martin Sheen as lovers who are found out by Hal's son played by Scott Jacobi. Hope Lange played the mother.

The Queen Of Mean - The Leona Helmsley Story

a rip off of 'deliverance'!

Kristy McNichol Summer of My German Soldier

I remember one critic hating "Griffin and Phoenix: A Love Story." He said the two characters (both are dying of terminal illnesses) were far from sympathetic; they engage in "fun but outrageous and childish public behavior" and basically act like a couple of immature assholes. But they're "living life to the fullest" so the viewer is supposed to like them. I remember seeing a little of the movie. They did act like assholes.

Tyne Daly plays a modern day update of The Miracle Worker in 'Larry'.

"Crowhaven Farm," with Hope Lange. Scared the shit out of me as a kid. I just remember a bunch of people dressed like Mayflower pilgrims putting a wooden board on top of Hope and stacking it with big heavy rocks to crush her to death.

“After The Promise” starring Mark Harmon and DL icon Diana Scarwid.

Stolen Babies - another dragon lady role for MTM!!!!

The terrific "Vanishing Act" (1986) with Elliott Gould, Margot Kidder, Mike Farrell and Fred Gwynne -- really fun mystery from Levinson and Link, which I think may still be on YouTube.

Another surprise-filled mystery was "The Operation" (1990) with Joe Penny, Lisa Hartman, Kathleen Quinlan and Jason Beghe. Haven't seen it since it aired, so I don't know how it would hold up these days, but I remember liking it a lot at the time. It was certainly cast from the TV Movie casting directory!

DL favorites Marcy Walker, Genie Walker, and Victoria Wyndham in Terror In The Shadows

Kate Jackson in "Kidnapping in the Family" 1996. Plot: Parents accused of satanism are really just misunderstood free spirits while doting grandmother is the true doer of evil.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

R495- I lovr old British films - preferably ones set in the 1940s. But apart from well known ones like "Suspicion" and "Mrs. Miniver", they're kind of hard to find.

R503, the Jill Clayburgh character says that she has a ton of credit cards and she's charging everything, paying nothing and when they finally catch up to her, she'll be dead. The Peter Falk character goes on a rampage and destroys several cars with a tire iron after learning Clayburgh has passed.

R457---Really? I was a kid so I only ever saw it on TV. It SEEMED like a tv movie!

Thanks, r501! I forgot all about that one until now but I remember loving it as a kid. I can still kind of recall the very suspenseful ending.

Jamie Lee Curtis starred in a few of these in the early 80s in between her horror movie roles, she did She's in the Army Now! also starring Melanie Griffith and Kathleen Quinlan, it was a made for TV movie version of Private Benjamin

She did Money on the Side, where Jamie Lee played a prostitute (!) with Linda Purl, Christopher Lloyd and Susan Flannery, of Days of Our Lives and The Bold and the Beautiful fame, as Jamie Lee's dykey madam in the movie!

And she had the title role in Death of a Centerfold:The Dorothy Stratten story, co starring Mitch Ryan as Hugh Hefner and Robert Reed, the gay dad from The Brady Bunch, as Dorothy 's lover , Hollywood director Peter Bogdonovitch.

R516 Jamie was so horribly miscast as Dorothy Stratten. For God's sake, who ever thought that was a smart choice?

I don't think anyone has mentioned the early-80s male stripper movie For Ladies Only, starring Gregory Harrison. Despite the title, I've a hunch a generation of young gays also tuned in.

How dare you, r518?

R518/R519 - The TV Guide ad for that was pretty amusing for its time

Why did the TV movie genre almost died?

R520 he’s beautiful!

R521 when the internet became prominent and cable started becoming more popular than network TV.

R521 As network earnings dwindled with the advent of cable TV, the costs of TV movie productions outweighed the budgets and the potential returns. They simply were no longer profitable.

I used to love the dramatic network logo before the movie started. It set the mood. In my house when that started you better be seated and quiet. Basically each network had a movie of the week. That's a lot of movies.

Thanks everyone, there are a lot of movies to watch. Lots of these I been meaning to get to; some I've heard about on DL; and many sound hilarious. now excuse me while I find my Snuggy and get my mug hugging hands ready for the weekend!

Some of them seem hockey today. Okay a lot of them. They weren't at the time thought. The networks took a lot of pride in the movies they made.

Great thread OP! I nominate Memories Of Murder, starring DL fave Vanity.

Vanity is a DL fav?!

The Loneliest Runner

Michael Landon pisses his bed.

Was The Other Side Of The Mountain a TV movie?

Between Two Women

Farrah changes Colleen Dewherst’s diaper

I think I'm going to start with the Summer of My German Soldier. I remember when I was a kid my parents wouldn't let me watch it.

No R12, I remember seeing that way too sentimental thing in a theater when I was a kid.

^^ oops, meant to say R530, not R12 ^^

It's early

R511 That movie scared the crap out of me as a kid, with those little alien things running around in Kim Darby's kitchen.

Cradling, r525. It's mug CRADLING hands.

Kim Darby was just the worst. So much so that I rooted for the psychotic babysitter who tries to steal her hot husband (Barry Bostwick, looking as good as he’s ever looked) in “Summer Girl”.

“Summer Girl” also had the sexy Hunt Block (what a name). He shows up at the 37:11 mark.

I like the babysitter movie with Stephanie Zimbalist and William Shatner. Find that one for me.

The Tenth Circle, when Ron Eldard was still cute.

R538- Wow, lots of 'crazed babysitter takes over their lives' stories - this one and The Babysitter --- that must be where The Hand That Rocks The Cradle got their inspiration.

R367 OMG Thank you !!!

I always remembered seeing this movie on a Saturday morning when I was 6 years old. For the life of me, I didn't recall the name or anybody who was in it. Every once in awhile I'd do a search but nothing would come up that'd jog my memory. Until now.

I plan to watch it in entirety sometime this week. I can't believe the well-known cast. "Jeannette" Dubois, (Ja'net from Good Times), a few other recognizable black actors, and Kevin Hooks, who became a renowned Hollywood Director. Of course at the time, I didn't know who any of these people were.

I can't wait to watch it again, 50 years later!! The search is over.

The House That Would Not Die and Whatever Happened To Aunt Alice are getting Blue Ray releases.

There may be hope that more of these movies will get proper releases.

The two above are listed on Amazon.com

R465 You're thinking of Racing with the Devil. It was a theatrical release. I remember the other woman was Lara Parker, Angelique from Dark Shadows.

What a fabulous thread!

The one that made me cry buckets was "Queen of the Stardust Ballroom" with Maureen Stapleton and Charles Durning.

I also loved "The Jericho Mile".

And "Born Innocent" was the talk of the school the next day. Thinking back, it's amazing that ever made it onto network TV

SUDDENLY LOVE (1978) with Cindy Williams...I remember being quite surprised to see her in a dramatic role and looking quite fetching in a Ross Hunter Production. Paul Shenar played her wealthy husband, Eileen Heckart her greedy mother and Joan Bennett and Lew Ayers her in-laws.

That movie sounds a bit....soggy, r546.

A Little Thing Called Murder. 2006 It was a Lifetime MOW about Sante Kimes that was propelled by one of Judy Davis's greatest performances. And I am being totally serious. It's a must for any J. Davis fans !!

"Jenifer ", about Jenifer Estess, the woman who owned Naked Angel theater in NYC and got ALS. Her and her sisters started Project ALS. It's on YouTube.

[italic]Queen of the Stardust Ballroom[/italic] was turned into a Broadway musical.

Oh I know you are, r548 - she was amazing (as always)!

Nancy McKeon in a spousal abuse drama called “A Cry For Help”. Nancy was pretty good in it.

Many of the 70s ones covered in here...

The Secret Life Of Marilyn Monroe. Susan Sarandon plays her crazy mom and Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays Joe DiMaggio.

The Last Song - Diana Prince investigates a toxic waste cover-up!

Dixie: Change of Habit. DL favs Suzanne Pleshette and Cloris Leachman star in this tale of a New Orleans madam (SP) who is busted and sentenced to community service in a convent (Cloris as Mother Superior). Streaming now on Amazon Prime.

This thread is almost closed and no mention of Sally Struthers in Aloha Means Goodbye????

Shattered Dreams - Lindsey Wagner unsuccessfully trying to channel Farrah as a physically and emotionally abused housewife.

Campbell Scott in Hallmark’s Hall of Fame “The Love Letter”.

Campbell Scott in Hallmark Hall of Fame “Follow The Stars Home”.

I remember Dixie: Change of Habit. That was some good stuff.

A few good ones I remember:

1. The Miracle Of Kathy Miller. True story with Helen Hunt as a teenager who comes out of a coma to run a marathon.

2. What Makes A Family. Another true story with Brooke Shields and Cherry Jones as a lesbian couple who have kids and when one of them dies the grandparents take the kids away.

3. The Barn Dance. With Winona Ryder and Rob Lowe plays a retard that likes her.

4. Eric, an old 70s movie about Eric Lund, a kid who died of leukemia.

Anyone remember these? Great thread OP!

Richard Thomas in All Quiet on the Western Front.

Another movie based on a true story: Door To Door, starring William H. Macy as a man with cerebral palsy who becomes a door-to-door salesman. I thought it was pretty good.

Obsessed (1992) w Shannen Doherty and William Devane,

WEHT Cassidy Rae? She did tons of tv movies in the 90s, then just vanished.

Speaking of Nancy McKeon does anyone remember that bizarre tv movie she did where she plays a pregnant woman doing supernatural battle with a cursed latin tribe that's trying to save themselves by stealing her baby? I was called The Lightning Fields but was changed to The Lightning Incident for some reason.

The one where Shannen Doherty played Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind

[italic]Marilyn: The Untold Story[/italic] (1980)—Catherine Hicks was great in this despite looking nothing like Marilyn.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

[italic] Forever [/italic] 1978 written by Judy Blume & AJ Carothers, based on the novel by Judy Blume. Directed by John Korty, and starring: Stephanie Zimbalist, Dean Butler, Diana Scarwid, Woodrow Chambliss, John Friedrich, and Judith Weston. Forever really is the best of the seventies encapsulated in this film. Great soundtrack too.

R566, I remember Cassidy Rae. I liked her movie Lying Eyes. She got married, had a couple of kids and retired.

Miracle Landing with Connie Sellecca.

"Baby Cakes", starring Ricki Lake. This was just one movie cited by Twitter users in their brutal dragging of Rebel Wilson after she claimed last week to be the first plus-size woman to star in a romantic comedy. Why can't these dummies do their research before patting themselves on the back with "I was the first to ____ " claims?

One of my favorite ABC Movies of the Week, "All the Kind Strangers". A family of orphaned hillbillies with guns, guard dogs, and a big ol' swamp to disappear things into, kidnap Stacy Keach and Samatha Eggar and force them to be "Ma and Pa".

I grew up thinking the hitchhiking kid Keach picks up was a young Jodie Foster (turns out it was a boy).

R575, I was just thinking about the movie. I think Robbie Benson was in it also. It turns out that John Savage is the oldest son and has to look after his brothers and sisters because the parents are dead. But he wants to see the world so he tries to find surrogate parents.

I could watch anything with Stephanie Zimbalist. Too bad she just dropped off the face of the earth. Dynasty and The Colbys wanted her real bad but she wouldn't give them the time of day.

[quote] I could watch anything with Stephanie Zimbalist. Too bad she just dropped off the face of the earth.

She's doing God's work now.

Really loved her look but I hear she was a super bitch to work with.

This one is a MUST see. Stephanie Zimbalist in Caroline. A brilliant movie.

Can't believe we're almost to the end of the thread and no mention of the DL classic, Mother May I Bundle With Percy.

Remember The Marla Hanson Story, about the NYC aspiring model who got her face slashed?

Also liked Victims For Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story.

New thread title, please!!!

Nostalgia and Passion: The Datalounge TV Movie Thread Story

R581 G-d Tori looks like her father there. That pic must have been before all the surgical interventions. At first I thought it was a boy with a pageboy.

Verna: USO Girl starring Sissy Spacek

I'm glad Kath and Kim got in there before the genre ended.

Something To Live For - Molly Ringwald gets AIDS.

Surviving - Molly Ringwald tackles teen suicide.

Stranded - Loni Anderson and Perry King stuck on a deserted desert island. At first they can’t stand one another but of course he eats her in the end!

Someone needs to start a new thread before this one's closed. Loving all the posts.

For r591:

I didn't read through this entire thread, but does anyone else remember the TV movie, Celebrity? I remember it as being quite good, with the murder mystery solved very late in the program. One thing i do recall is being shocked that one of the men was gay and then very disappointed that the gay man's son was permanently damaged because he saw his father with another man.

Those 3 terrifically sleazy Amy Fisher movies that all came out at the same time.

R594 loved those! The Drew Barrymore one was my favorite.

I posted this on the new thread, but I'll put it here too. As I mentioned there, Battlestar Galactica was originally a TV movie that was so successful, it gave birth to a series. Before the series began, the movie was then shown in theaters for a few weeks - in Sensurround.

[Quote] 2. What Makes A Family. Another true story with Brooke Shields and Cherry Jones as a lesbian couple who have kids and when one of them dies the grandparents take the kids away.

My mum watched that one a few months ago.

I ‘m sure this has already been mentioned, but whatever happened to Melinda Dillon? She stole the movie from Davis/Stewart. Her last IMDB credits are 2007.

“The Craigslist Killer” starring DL fave Jake McDorman.

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